The 1 247kg champion being lowered onto the scale at California’s Half Moon Bay World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. This year’s record-setting giant pumpkin was grown by defending champion Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minnesota. Picture: AFP
Los Angeles ‒ A monster pumpkin weighing the same as a hippopotamus has claimed the world record for the mightiest gourd -- and bagged its grower a $30 000 (R570 000) prize.
Travis Gienger squashed the competition with his enormous fruit weighing in at an improbable 1 247kg at the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival in California this week.
An orange-shirted Gienger punched the air and offered hugs all round after the weigh-in, as Queen’s “We Are The Champions” blasted out, as seen in video from the event.
The contest, in its 50th year, pits growers of mega-gourds from all over North America against each other to see who can produce the biggest berry.
Gienger, from Minnesota, bagged a new world record in the process, besting an Italian effort from 2021 which tipped the scales at 1 226kg, organisers said.
The grand champion gourd will be on display in Half Moon Bay this weekend when the town hosts its Art and Pumpkin Festival.
The US is in the throes of autumn celebrations with pumpkins of all shapes and sizes ready for the dinner table or to be carved into ghoulish designs for Halloween at the end of the month - AFP
The Independent on Saturday
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